Since coming out, former pro b-baller John Amaechi finds that his sexuality’s trumped his other personal traits, especially in America:

In Britain I think they find it easier to take it all in. Here in the US they say, ‘He’s black and English and a basketball player and clever and gay …’ It’s all a bit overwhelming. They can only deal with one thing at a time and that one thing now is the gay bit. It’s disappointing, because you spend all that time studying, researching, training, and after all that work I’m just that ‘big gay bloke’.”

Oh, Johnny, we think you’re more than just some “big gay bloke”. You’re a big gay dreamboat bloke.
Meanwhile, Amaechi also ponders why straight jocks may be uncomfortable with gays playing on their team:

The locker room is one of the most homoerotic places there is. They stand there, butt cheek to butt cheek, naked and reading the newspaper. Introducing gay people into that environment makes them sensitive to that. Turn the soundtrack of any sport off and just look at the pictures. After a game, the men take their shirts off and hug each other. Since Homer, sport has been homoerotic. Everything is hypermasculine.

Alas he’s right. Minority status in America is so screwy that at some point, no matter how hard you try, you become the group rep. I had a boss who only wanted my opinion when the topic was black. A tad bit annoying and one of the reasons why I’m a bitter queen.